NEW YORK, March 11 — A new modular, digital keyboard offers a customisable experience for seasoned musicians, while for beginners, it aims to gamify the process of learning to play.
"Keys" features full-size LED keys that allow for gesture control, including swipe and proximity gesturing, meaning a wave of the hand can change octaves or adjust tone.
Portable and said to be durable as well, it also features modular linking; this means that one of the 24-key keyboards can connect to additional Keys keyboards and control panels to allow for customisation — and the possibility of a full seven-octave keyboard — for professional musicians.
For the not-yet musically inclined, an iPhone app turns Keys into a rhythmic game that directs the user to hit the correct notes to play songs. Users have a library of songs to choose from and can also select from various learning and practice modes.
Keys, which calls itself the "future of the music keyboard," launched an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign on March 5 and is already nearing 150 per cent of its US$50,000 goal.
It's a good week for digital musical instruments: Over on Kickstarter, a device that's being called "the instrument of the future" — Artiphon's highly adaptable Instrument 1 — is making a killing, having surpassed US$500,000 in pledges on a goal of US$75,000.
Opho, the maker of Keys, also created Gtar, a digital guitar that more than tripled its goal in Kickstarter in 2012.
Keys can be pre-ordered starting at US$92 for a single keyboard and US$120 with a learning kit at www.playkeys.io. — AFP-Relaxnews
